The Warmth Machine
by gabriel ricard
Summary: My first Twillight zone fic which is actually an orginal story but is within the same vein as Twilight Zone so read on and lemme know what you think!


The Warmth Machine-A Twilight Zone fan fic.

Written by-Gabe Ricard

Gabe: Welcome everyone to one of the first Twilight Zone fics ever written! I am the author Gabe Ricard, writing genius, backyard wrestling legend and one of the stars of the hit FF7 series. With me to introduce a legend of science fiction is Brendan Mcdonald. Jesus Brendan, you look like shit.

Brendan: Yeah well it's that spectacular "Welcome Wagon" package you send along to all your friends who appear in your fics.

Gabe: (smiles reflecting) Yeah…Wanda has got to have the greatest set of- (shakes head) anyway any minute now the man himself Rod Serling will be here to present this fic.

Brendan: Isn't he dead?

Gabe: Well…yeah but this is the Twilight Zone damn it! I- (cell phone rings) huh? What's this? (Turns it on and holds it to ear) Yeah? Well where the hell is he?! HE'S NOT COMING?! Well what the hell is this?! That ugly son of a bitch said he'd be here! "I don't represent the series well?!" What the fuck is that supposed to mean?! It's not like that stiff has anything better to do. Hello? Hello? Son…. of a bitch!(throws cell phone several feet), Great now Ihave to present the fic!

Brendan: I wouldn't push it with this crowd.

Gabe: Well whose gonna present it then?

Brendan: I can. Just let me get a-urk (holds stomach then turns green and runs off the stage.)

Gabe: (puts on a black suit) okay it's up to me let's do this. Well here we go everyone sit back and enjoy.

Gabe: (steps into a lab of some sort.) We live in a world of constant suffering. Being the perfectionists humans are we are constantly and forever searching for a way to ease the suffering of existence…or eradicate it completely. Within the confines of this simple clustered lab one such man has created what he believes will put an end to what so many have tried to accomplish. However his creation dubbed the "Warmth Machine" will have an opposite affect on two young people one of which is his own daughter. For this man has not created the "Warmth Machine" within the confines of this simple, clustered lab. He has created it within the endless confines…of the Twilight Zone. (Steps back and walks out as we fade to black)

****

The Warmth Machine.

"Look Alice," sighed Shawn. "I like wrestling too…but we can only watch so many old 80's Ric Flair matches before it starts to lose some of it's luster."

"What else are we gonna do?" replied Alice. "Maybe if we had social lives?"

"Hey I know…we can-"

"No."

"Pleasssseeee?"

"No way Shawn. Not with my dad in the house."

"I need to go out kids I'll be back in a minute." Shawn and Alice turned around to see a middle aged man quickly walking out the door. Alice shook her head and muttered.

"See? He's gone now so can we?"

Alice shook her head and sighed."Oh all right."

****

Five minutes later…

"I can't believe you want to come down here every time you come over?" said Alice sitting at the bottom steps of the basement while Shawn walked around. Shawn came to what looked like a stuffed bear.

"What's this?" 

Alice craned her neck slightly then smiled, "It's pretty cool…touch it's stomach."

"Oh no…I learned my lesson the last time we came down here."

"Don't worry…you won't get sprayed with pickle juice this time."

"Better not," mumbled Shawn reaching over and pressing his finger into the bear's stomach. A moment later the bear began to blink then stood upright and jumped off the counter and looked up at Shawn. "What can I do for you Dr. Martin?"

"What the hell is this thing?" asked Shawn stepping back.

Alice stood up and walked over to them then, reached down, picked up the bear and put it back on the counter. "Go back to sleep."

"Yes Dr.Johnson." replied the bear sitting down and closing its eyes.

Alice turned to Shawn; "My dad made this it's a personal assistant. He still needs to make it so it doesn't recognize everyone as himself."

"Your dad's pretty weird," commented Shawn. "Being an inventor and all."

Alice shrugged, " I guess, you know me though. I'm used to it."

"That's for sure," replied Shawn stopping at a large egg-like object that was covered with a sheet. "Hey what's this?"

"I'm not sure…" said Alice walking over to it. She shrugged and pulled the sheet back to reveal a large egg-shaped machine with a door in front of it.

"Don't you know what this is?" asked Shawn studying the device carefully.

"No idea," answered Alice. She looked over to left of it and saw some writing on it. "The warmth machine," she read aloud.

"What? The warmth machine?"

"That's the name of this thing."

"Ah…" Shawn was silent for a moment as he stared at the machine carefully. At that moment an odd urge came over him and he felt a small but gripping desire to crawl inside this thing even though he had no idea what it would do.

"Are you crazy?" questioned Alice when Shawn told her what he wanted to do.

"Guess I am," replied Shawn. "Well?"

"I…" Alice paused cautiously. "Guess so…I suppose if it was dangerous dad wouldn't just leave it out here."

"There, we have a flimsy rationalization and everything," said Shawn. "Let's see how this thing works." 

She looked at the right side of it. "There's a little control panel here on the side. Step inside it and I'll see what this thing does," Shawn nodded and opened the small door and crawled inside and Alice who was still feeling incredibly nervous about this, took a deep breath and closely examined the control panel. "Let's see…well this looks like the on switch." She reached over and pushed the button then stood back and peered inside curiously.

Shawn looked around and saw everything around him getting a bright, fuzzy red. At that moment he realized how wonderful he felt. As things settled into an immensely comfortable warmth everything that had been bothering Shawn seemed to disappear and all that matters was this wonderful, comforting feeling he had as his eyes grew heavier and heavier.

"Shawn! Are you okay?"

Shawn felt himself being pulled from this feeling a most violent manner. He almost screamed as he opened his eyes and saw he was laying outside the machine his head was throbbing with intense pain. "Ha…?"

"Are you okay?" Alice repeated.

"N-not really," he replied slowly standing up. "My head…what happened?"

"You looked like you where about to fall asleep so I panicked and pulled the plug on it."

"Kids! You're not down here again are you?"

Alice's heart nearly jumped into her throat, "Crap…my dad…come on let's duck out through the door behind that shelf."

"Okay…" replied Shawn who was still feeling light headed but helped Alice pulled the shelf back just enough to slip through the door to the backyard.

"Whew, we made it," smiled Alice. "Dad gets pretty mad if he catches us in his lab."

"Yeah…we better go back inside before your dad suspects something."

"Good idea," agreed Alice as the two walked back into the house and where greeted by Mr.Johnson.

"Hey you two…where were you?"

"Just outside," replied Alice.

"Oh Shawn, I ran into your parents while I was out. They're leaving for their trip to Vegas and asked me to let you stay here tonight. That all right?"

"Sure," answered Shawn. He turned to Alice, "Got any Aspirin?"

Shawn rolled around yet again on the couch in Alice's living room and sighed. He hadn't been able to sleep at all and it was now well past eleven and he had to take a test on Biology tomorrow. What kept him from sleep was his mind going to that machine over and over again. He had never felt anything like the feeling he had when was in that machine. He knew he wouldn't be able to do anything especially sleep unless he went inside that machine again. "Only for a minute," he reasoned in his mind slipping off the couch and walking quietly down to the basement.

He stood in front of the machine and took a deep breath before looking at the control panel on the side and seeing the on button. He quickly turned it on and stood back as he saw that same red glow fill the inside of the machine. He smiled and slipped in shutting the door as he did. That wonderful feeling was now once again overwhelming him. This time it was only a couple minutes before his eyes began to get heavy and this time there was no one there to stop him from closing his eyes and falling into a blissful sleep that felt like it would never end.

"Shawn! You moron wake the hell up!"

Shawn felt an intense cold strike him as he opened his eyes and saw Alice standing over him and knew he was outside the machine and on the cold basement floor. A second later incredible panic came over him now that he was more awake and wasn't inside the machine anymore. "Alice! What are you doing?! You gotta put me back! Please you gotta-"

"You need to get a grip and get upstairs with me before my Dad wakes up!"

Shawn was about to protest but Alice ignored it and pulled him up the stairs and out of the basement.

"W-what time is it?" he asked his senses finally coming back to him.

"Seven thirty…we need to leave for school in a half hour. What the hell where you doing down there?! Have you lost what little mind you have?" 

"I don't know…" he replied slowly the desire to go back down there and get back into that machine was strong but far more controllable then it was last night and when Alice pulled him out of the machine just now. "I'll go get changed so we won't be late." Alice nodded and watched as Shawn slowly walked up the stairs to her upstairs bathroom. 

"What is wrong with him?"

"That Biology test was pretty easy," commented Alice turning to Shawn while they where walking back to Alice's house from school later that day.

"Oh yeah," agreed Shawn. "It was a walk in the park!" he lowered his head, he had failed the test and he knew it. He just hadn't been able to concentrate on the test as his mind kept going back to that machine in Alice's basement and ways that he could get back to it.

"Hey guys!" greeted Mr.Johnson as Alice and Shawn walked inside the house.

"Hi Dad! How goes the life of the town nut?"

Mr.Johnson shrugged off handily, "It's seen better days. Your parents called Shawn looks like they tapped out already!" he laughed. "They spent everything they brought and don't want to waste any more money so they told me they're heading back. They should be back tonight."

Shawn bit his lip. He had been hoping they'd be gone another night so he would have to stay over at Alice's house again. "I was hoping…I could stay over again tonight?"

"Now Shawn…I think you have plenty of chances to take advantage of my daughter."

"Dad!" exclaimed Alice.

He laughed again. "I'm only kidding."

"That's a good point," replied Shawn fake laughing. "Your right." He turned to Alice. "I'll talk to you later I gotta finish all the homework that bastard Mr.Jenkins assigned anyway."

"Me too… talk to you later."

Once again, Shawn found sleep impossible to come to him. He took a break from tossing and turning and glanced at his clock and groaned. "It's only 1:25…I'll never get to sleep…" He knew what he needed. Finally as if this will was now in complete control he jumped out of bed and slipped on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and quietly slipped out his window.

Shawn pushed at the door to the basement and when it wouldn't budge, he stood back and cursed under his breath. _Must have put the shelf back _he thought bitterly. _Oh well I'll just go through the back door…they never lock it anyway._ He turned from the inoperable basement door and walked to the back doorway and with impressive stealth, slowly opened the door and slipped in tiptoeing through the house and making his way to the basement. _In just a moment…I'll be back inside that wonderful machine…just a moment…_he could barely contain himself as his foot hit the last step of the stairs to the basement. Then when his foot hit that last step, he felt his foot tear across a string and a moment later, his heart froze as a deafening buzzer sound filled the basement.

"Shawn?!" exclaimed Alice in shock as she came to the basement and saw Shawn.

"Alice!" At that moment all reasoning and logic seemed to leave his mind and now Shawn felt terrified and desperate. "Please you let me back in that machine! You gotta put me back in now!"

"The machine? Shawn I-"

"What's going on here?" demanded Mr.Johnson coming to the bottom of the stairs. "Shawn what are you doing here?"

"Mr. Johnson! YOU can do it can't you? Please let me back inside?"

"Inside what?"

"JUST DO IT!" screamed Shawn grabbing Mr.Johnson by his shirt.

Mr. Johnson shoved Shawn back as a horrible realization came to him. He turned to Alice. "Alice, go upstairs and call the police!"

"Dad? This is Shaw-"

"Go now!"

Alice nodded and ran up the stairs.

"No please! Don't do this to me!" cried Shawn as a police office dragged him away from Alice's house several minutes later. In the back of his mind he was rampantly trying to figure out what made him snap. But that place in the back of his mind was soon overwhelmed with the need to get back inside that machine and forget how much it hurt to be awake and conscious. A feeling that had not even come into his mind until a couple of days ago.

"Dad, what the hell is wrong with Shawn?" asked Alice furiously.

Mr. Johnson sat down in a chair, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. "Shawn has become a victim of a machine I had recently completed."

"That egg shaped thing we found." 

"Right…it's called the Warmth Machine…about a year ago I pitched an idea to the New York board of health about an idea for a machine that would change the way patients who where on their death bed could live out the last couple days. The machine basically sets a perfect balance which is so comfortable to be inside that in only a few moments you get tired and go into a deep sleep. The idea seemed perfect and I'd also be receiving half a million dollars for the patent. However, something happened that I should have foreseen but didn't. It ended up becoming a drug to those who experienced it which wouldn't be so bad if it remained within it's intended purposes but I knew that once I gave up that patent that it would be used in other situations."

"How could you have known what was going to happen to Shawn?" asked Alice.

"The first thing I ever tested it on was a rat. The first time there was no notable change but the second and third times I tested the machine on the rat, when I tried to take it out it would struggle violently and even tore a chunk of skin out of my hand." He raised his hand to show his daughter a small scar. I then tested it on three more rats and got the same results. Not knowing what to do with so much money and prestige at stake I threw a blanket over it and put in the darkest corner of the room until I could figure out what I would need to do. Now I know…I should have destroyed the damn thing after the first rat but I didn't and now Shawn will live out the rest of his life trying to get back to this machine." At this moment a tear fell down his face as he looked up at his daughter who was too stunned to speak but embraced her father as rain began to beat against the windows.

****

The following evening…

"LET ME OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!" screamed Shawn kicking his door as hard as he could then reaching over, grabbing a lamp, and throwing it at the door. He wiped some saliva from his lip and turned to the window and looked out of it then downwards. The arbor he had used to climb out of his room in the past was gone and what's worse, tomorrow he would be taken to some place for troubled teens and he would never see the machine again. Another one of his uncontrollable rages overcame Shawn who began wildly throwing things off his shelf before pulling the shelf itself down. A moment later, he stopped his screaming as his eyes stopped on the Swiss army knife he had had when he was younger. Almost like a pack rat, Shawn scurried over and snatched it up and pulled out the blade inside it which was still fairly sharp for it's age. Shawn's excitement was interrupted as he heard a knock at the door.

"Shawn?" It was his mother. "I brought you a little dinner."

A deranged smile slowly crept over Shawn's face. "Mom! My leg! I hurt my leg knocking over my shelf! Please help me!" Shawn slowly laid down on the floor and stashed the knife in his left pocket. "It's only going to be a matter of time." He thought with glee as the door opened and his mother and father rushed in to help.

****

Later in the early morning…

"Man…it never fails," sighed Deputy Stephen Givings to his partner Tom Hosier. "Ten minutes before our patrol ends we get a call from the station asking to respond to some neighbors complaints."

"So you think we should answer it?" asked Tom gulping down the last of his coffee.

"May as well, remember when Peters chewed us out the last time we ignored a call?"

"True…man we get so many of these stupid calls it's not even funny." Sighed Tom finishing the last of his donut and making a left at the first intersection as they neared the house they where supposed to stop at.

"We'll deal with this crap and get out of here. I'm tired." The police car pulled into the driveway and the two cops got out and surveyed the house.

"Hey we where here a couple nights ago." Remarked Stephen.

"That's right," recalled Tom. "That crazy kid that broke into the Johnson house. I know the guy who lives here fixed my DVD player for free. Nice guy."

"I think he's a nut," replied Stephen knocking on the door and getting no response. He knocked again and still got no answer. "Great, no ones home."

Tom reached over and cracked the door open and poked his head inside, "Hello? Mr.Johnson?" He turned to Stephen. "What was the complaint about?"

"They said a neighbor called and said they and a few other people heard screaming coming from the house."

"We better have a look around," said Tom opening the door and stepping inside with Stephen behind him.

"Hello?" called Tom again as they walked through the house and found nothing. Soon they came to the basement door and stopped. Tom turned to Stephen; "This is where he worked on all of his experiments and inventions."

"So?" asked Stephen.

"So, we may as well have a look down here. Besides, I want to see some of the stuff he's working on. He wouldn't let me when I came over here with my DVD player.

"Fine, but after that we are getting the hell out of here."

"Agreed." Tom turned and opened the door and began to slowly walk down the stairs and stopped. 

"Oh my god…" muttered Tom as both stared at the sight of Alice laying unmoving at the bottom of the stairs. Stephen jumped over the last step and landed right next to her. He reached down and picked her up and saw a huge gash on her forehead. He checked her pulse and did not hear a heart beat.

"Call the station…tell them to send backup and an ambulance…hurry!"

"Yeah…sure," Tom bolted up the stairs and to the car. Stephen laid her back on the ground and stood up and felt his entire body seize up as he saw another body hunched over a table. He ran over to the tale and lifted the head up and saw that it was Mr. Johnson who had what looked like a Swiss army knife jammed into his throat and several cuts on his face and shoulders. He heard something move behind and turned around to see a large egg shaped machine. He kept his hand uneasily on his gun and kneeled down; peering inside to see Shawn laying inside the machine curled up in a ball. 

"That was the kid from the other night," mumbled Stephen. He looked at the peaceful, serene expression on the Shawn's face and felt more terrified then he ever had in his entire life. On impulse he opened the door and reached in, grabbing the kids arm and then sticking his other arm inside to pull the kid out.

Stephen had Shawn out of the machine when suddenly, his eyes popped open and the serene, peaceful expression turned into one of pure rage as Shawn wildly grabbed the robotic monkey on the table and smashed Stephen in the head with it. "No! How dare you take me out! How dare you!" Shawn reached over and pulled the knife out of Mr. Johnson's head and stood over Stephen with his knife seconds away from being plunged into Stephen when, three gun shots rang out and Shawn fell the ground.

"Are you okay man?" asked Tom helping Stephen up as he noticed the other dead body on the table. "Oh God…"

"You shot him?" mumbled Stephen who had blood trickling down his forehead.

"I had too! He would have cut you open if I hadn't! Backup is on its way but there's a bunch already at some house. The mother and the father of that kid we dragged out of here the other night where found dead and the kid-" he stopped as he saw the face of Shawn. "It was him! That was the kid they told me to look for!"

Stephen said nothing, only looking down at Shawn and wondering what could have driven someone to do something like this as the sounds of sirens drew closer and closer.

Scene fades and reappears on Gabe who is standing outside the Johnson house which is now swarming with police and medical attendants. 

Gabe: We live in a world of constant suffering and being the perfectionists we are seek to curb this suffering or wipe it out entirely. Sidney Johnson is one such man who created something that was meant to lessen the suffering of those who had little left but instead created nothing more then the next drug. But even with this and other drugs, mankind will continue it's search for pure happiness but all they will find is another one way ticket to the Twilight Zone.

(Turns and walks away as the scene fades once again.)

End.

What did ya think? For some reason this fic took a long time to write and even though it may be a little corny have the same style and spirit as the Twilight Zone which is one of my favorite shows and something I have wanted to do a fic on for a long time. Next up will be a cuple stupid list type fics and an Army Of Darkness fic which will give some info on the status of my AOD/ICP crossover fic. Plus the ever annyoing FF7 series will be updated soon and I have no idea what the title will be. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.


End file.
